Barcelona star Gavi signed off after court ruling

A court has reversed its decision to register Gavi as a first-team player at FC Barcelona because the Catalan club was late in filing its claim, LaLiga announced on Monday.

18-year-old Gavi signed a new contract until 2026 at the Camp Nou in September but the Spanish top flight club have not confirmed the deal because Barca exceeded their spending limit.

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Barca filed a lawsuit against this decision and on January 31 a court ordered LaLiga to accept Gavi’s registration with his previous terms expiring this summer.

The verdict stated that failure to do so would “imply imply the player’s freedom of choice and therefore would cause serious, irreparable damage to Barca”.

However, LaLiga said the ruling has now been overturned because Barca missed a deadline which invalidated Gavi’s new deal.

“LaLiga has received a notice from the 10th Commercial Court of Barcelona informing of the lifting of the precautionary measures agreed in the Gavi case,” LaLiga said in a statement on Monday. “The reason is that Barcelona did not meet the deadlines for filing the main lawsuit.”

Sources told ESPN the club “didn’t miss any deadlines” and that the decision was made by a “legal administration attorney, so not final and [Gavi’s registration] will not be undone until it is final.”

Worst-case scenario, Gavi could technically become a free agent in the summer if there’s no solution by then, although sources at Barca have told ESPN they don’t expect it.

Even if he loses his first-team registration, the Spain international can still play for Barca this season under his previous commitment as a youth player.

However, the Catalan club still have some work to do to ensure their contract is registered for next season. They also have yet to inscribe Ronald Araujo’s new terms, agreed in April 2022.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has said they need to cut their annual spending by almost €200m ahead of the 2023/24 season, adding they can’t afford signings this summer.

Barca president Joan Laporta, meanwhile, said the club will work hard to strengthen and aim for a right-back and a forward.